Meeting of the Parliament 19 November 2025
I start on a positive note by thanking the Labour Party for sponsoring a debate on education. It is important that we have those; in January, the Scottish Conservatives sponsored a similar debate about our school environments. I would return to the subject every week, because parents, pupils and teachers are telling us that the problems that are still happening in our schools must be addressed. I do not see that as a negative thing—I see it as what people are looking for the Parliament to do something about.
In March, we secured a debate about ending violence in our schools. Maybe when the cabinet secretary is giving her closing speech, she can touch on some of this. We have seen a movement from the Scottish Government in the past year to recognise that we have a problem in our classrooms and that violence in our classrooms is something that we cannot just hope is not happening.
The number of teachers has decreased by almost 1,700 over the time that this Government has been in power. I think that that is because of the school environment. The number of post-probation teachers who find full-time employment has decreased and there has been a huge increase in the number of days that have been lost because of teachers in our school workplaces having poor mental health. More than 30 per cent of pupils are missing more than 10 per cent of their school learning because of that. Scotland’s classrooms are now the most violent in the UK: between March 2014 and 2024, there were 490 reports of serious injuries to school staff in Scotland caused by violence. Adjusted for population, that rate is higher than the rate in England and Wales.
So, we have a problem, and we need to ensure that, rather than burying our heads in the sand, we look for solutions. I hope that the cabinet secretary will listen to those of us who have raised the issue.
In the debates that we led on the subject, we asked for a clear national policy on consequences. The cabinet secretary said that such a policy would be provided in the guidance. We must have a situation in which pupils are required to take responsibility for their actions; in which any violence in our schools is not tolerated; and in which the option of exclusion is available for teachers to take as a last resort, if they need to, with the support of this Parliament and the cabinet secretary. Ministers have acknowledged that the rise in violence and abuse in our schools must be addressed.
On Friday, along with the cabinet secretary, I attended the School Leaders Scotland conference. I was struck by the conversations that I had with teachers about the fact that technology and bullying are at the heart of their concerns. Although the First Minister has told us that work is being done on the issue, school leaders want the Government to provide leadership on what they should be doing. A ban on social media—